You need to get calories from somewhere, should it be from carbohydrate or fat?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Wheat Germ Agglutinin; how little is enough?

Chignola's group have been at WGA again. Their basic interest is (was?) in using WGA as a drug carrier aimed at certain cell surface sugar groupings, hoping to target certain cancers, as far as I can see.

"At nanomolar concentrations WGA stimulates the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines and thus the biological activity of WGA should be reconsidered by taking into account the effects of WGA on the immune system at the gastrointestinal interface. These results shed new light onto the molecular mechanisms underlying the onset of gastrointestinal disorders observed in vivo upon dietary intake of wheat-based foods"

Notice there is no mention of coeliac disease, you do not need to be genetically predisposed by HLA type to have WGA toxicity. This looks to be yet more direct molecular toxicity.

Now we are talking nanomolar concentrations.

It's a bit difficult to get your head round a nanomole of WGA. One mole is the molecular weight expressed in grams. For WGA this is a BIG number of grams. A nanomole is not very much. So a nanomole is not very much of quite a lot of grams! Without struggling with the math I'd just suggest putting the bread in the bin and seeing if I could get out of my wheelchair as my gut integrity improved! An angry immune cell, looking at a soup of gut peptides, is not going to care what collateral damage it does.

Peter

BTW I heard that Sheffield vs Nottingham medics is generic and not limited to neurology... I can't remember who mentioned it, I'm pretty certain it was off blog at a supper party, from a physicist who had worked for Nottingham Queens Medical in some capacity.

Anyone know of the lectin content of grain fed animal meat/fat/dairy/eggs? It would be interesting.

I am now at the six month mark of grain, legume and (partial) nightshade avoidance. Never had any intestinal issues. Maybe some gas. But coeliac skin, scalp dermatitis/psoriasis has eventually led me to the conclusion.

No results so far, at 6 months. Recently had to go to the emergency room with pain that seemed to be the kidneys, but turned out to be the uriters - ie bladder infection(proteus-type?). Kidneys perfectly fine. The infection had been giving minor symptoms(pains) for a year or more and had certainly not been completely destroyed by the antibiotics at the er. Only suppressed.

But I hadn't considered that the butter, cream, egg yolks and animal fats here in the US may be laden with lectins in far greater amounts. Luckily I am able to buy imported grass-fed beef from New Zealand at the local store. This is now my sole source of protein. There's also commercial grass fed milk(no cream or butter, unfortunately) if I feel too deprived. Cordain says saponis are really crappy for gut integrity too so...only sweet potatoes.

The other aspect of residual lectins is that pressure cooking destroys them in legumes(http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119541134/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0k). I wouldn't put wheat in there, but certainly it should kill off anything in meats, nightshades etc...

Emma of Plantpoisons seems to have started gluten free at the same time as I. And she's going for the nine month mark. We'll see.

Thanks for that! Makes a bit of a mockery of any technical definition of "gluten free" meaning anything less than zero...

Hi Corpse8700,

Sorry I missed this one... It's a big unknown to me how well the lectins penetrate to meat from grain eating. But a urinary problem does suggest proteus. I see no reason why an antibody made to proteus urease might not hit skin collagen rather than joint collage. No two antibodies are the same, probably no 2 HLA receptors are the same. I guess collagens might have subtle conformational differences between individuals.

For urinary proteus Ebringer does have a protocol which is high fluid intake with cranberry juice supplementation (the sugar in cranberries does block the adhesion factor in proteus as well as E coli, lectins get everywhere). Not sure if he would use LC here but I would...

I've been told that Dermatitis herpetiformis can take a year to clear on gluten elimination.

I've rather lost track of Emma recently, must visit her on line community and see what is going on there.

Ha-ha, that would be relying on a plant to save my life. :) But I will definitely try!

Yes, I am LC. Loosely imitating OD, but with more protein to support weight training. Sweet white potatoes(that's what they're called on the price tag)and minor vegs provide about 10g cho per meal to stay out of ketosis. Minimal fiber. Wish I could eliminate all together. Regardless, I'm committed to this type of dieting. And avoiding gluten grains and keeping plants to a minimum is a lifetime commitment.

Emma hasn't posted since Jan, but recently updated her blof and renamed it to Autoimmune Thyroid:

Anne, thanks for the link. How lovely that whenever I think I've rounded up a category of 'safe' plants, a reminder that nothing survives millions of years being defenseless emerges. Yes, I quit nightshades completely for at least 2 months early in the year(no effect). Currently eating small amounts roast bell peppers. In any case, after decades of wheat consumption(*along* with nightshades et al) any human gut probably resembles a mesh colander. In Feb it will be 12 months and I'll see happens after that.

Also, skimmed through Ebringer re uti's. He seems to reccommend a high fruit/vegetable diet. I'm wondering if he subscribes to Cordain's alkaline theories(that gluconeogensis is less damaging than maintaining blood ph, eskimos early aging etc...).

Many people mix up gluten, gliadin, lectins and WGA (wheat germ agglutinin). Well, gluten is derived from the Latin word for glue. And sticky it is. It is the composite of the plant storage proteins prolamin and a glutelin. In wheat the prolamin is gliadin and the glutelin is glutenin. In other cereal grains you’ll find other prolamins and glutelins. So the variety of gluten and its components as found in various cereal grains is diverse. In popular language gluten is chiefly used for the gliadin in wheat. From gliadin there are again several types. So the gluten story is not that simple. Lectins are reviewed above and not only found in cereal grains, but also in legumes, nightshades and dairy. WGA is one of the many lectins and is found in wheat. WGA is known due to its dishonorable reputation to be the main cause of celiac disease.

About Me

I am Petro Dobromylskyj, always known as Peter. I'm a vet, trained at the RVC, London University. I was fortunate enough to intercalate a BSc degree in physiology in to my veterinary degree. I was even more fortunate to study under Patrick Wall at UCH, who set me on course to become a veterinary anaesthetist, mostly working on acute pain control. That led to the Certificate then Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia and enough publications to allow me to enter the European College of Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia as a de facto founding member. Anaesthesia teaches you a lot. Basic science is combined with the occasional need to act rapidly. Wrong decisions can reward you with catastrophe in seconds. Thinking is mandatory.
I stumbled on to nutrition completely by accident. Once you have been taught to think, it's hard to stop. I think about lots of things. These are some of them.

Organisation (or lack of it)!

The "labels" function on this blog has been used to function as an index and I've tended to group similar subjects together by using labels starting with identical text. If they're numbered within a similar label, start with (1). The archive is predominantly to show the posts I've put up in the last month, if people want to keep track of recent goings on. I might change it to the previous week if I ever get to time to put up enough posts in a week to justify it. That seems to be the best I can do within the limits of this blogging software!